belong to

phrasal verb

belonged to; belonging to; belongs to

: to be the property of (someone) : to be owned by

The money belongs to him.

The house belongs not just to her, but to her husband as well.

His style belongs only to himself.

: to be a member of (a club, organization, etc.)

The family belongs to a country club.

Most of the company's employees belong to an HMO.

: to be included in (a category, group, etc.)

What family does that bird belong to?

: to be a part of (something)

the parts belonging to the clock

Examples of belong to in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Experts have confirmed that a human jawbone that was mysteriously discovered in a child's rock collection once belonged to a United States Marine, who died during his military service over 70 years ago. —

Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 18 Apr. 2024 The year’s biggest IPO so far still belongs to Amer Sport, the maker of Wilson tennis racquets, which raised $1.37 billion in February, according to data from Dealogic. —

María Soledad Davila Calero, Fortune, 18 Apr. 2024 Only 10% of U.S. workers belonged to unions last year, little changed from the year prior, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed. —

Max Zahn, ABC News, 17 Apr. 2024 Phenomenal artists like Beyonce and Taylor Swift are pushing the envelope of what success looks like but who could argue that the last 2 years belong to SZA. —

Jem Aswad, Variety, 16 Apr. 2024 This community thrived in modern-day southeastern Poland between 4100 B.C. and 3650 B.C. Based on its quality, archaeologists believe the dagger belonged to a high-status person. —

Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2024 Growing up, Jeremy saw the men in his family belong to gangs. —

Kamal Morgan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Apr. 2024 Emphasize that her body hair belongs to her, and that nobody has the right to tell her what to do with it. —

Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 14 Apr. 2024 The play of the day belonged to quarterback Ethan Garbers, who completed a 55-yard pass to slot receiver Logan Loya. —

Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'belong to.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.